Blog

Tradition's Frani Feit, CFP discusses the allocation of international stocks in a diversified portfolio on NJ.com.

At Tradition we often talk about the benefits of adding uncorrelated investments to your portfolio and how they can help in reducing portfolio risk and in building a portfolio with a smoother (and less stressful) ride. However, we understand that the concept of uncorrelated asset classes and their impact on a portfolio can be difficult to understand.

When the 2018 Tax Law went into effect, personal exemptions were increased to $12,000 for a single tax filer and $24,000 for married, joint filers. Many taxpayers will no longer have enough in itemized deductions to surpass this threshold. One deduction that is sure to be affected is charitable donations. One possible solution?

Does your company offer an employee stock purchase plan (ESPP)? CNBC recently published an article, "What you need to know about your employee stock purchase plan," which reviews the highlights of an ESPP.

• Earnings are booming. The S&P 500 is on track to break 20% growth rate in earnings.

• Real GDP on track to grow 3% in 2018.

Distributing your hard earned retirement funds can be complex. Just as everyone's vision of retirement is different, so are the ways to invest your retirement funds both before and after retirement. Meeting with a financial advisor, if you don't already have one, should be an important first step to getting your retirement finances in order.

Equities rebounded in July and remained resilient to tariff and trade tensions. Read our recap of the month of July. Highlights include:

• Technology companies make up over $4 trillion in market value.

While everyone knows that we should be saving as much as possible for retirement, we also recognize that this is not always possible. A recent study published by Stanford professor, John Shoven, finds that working longer can be just as effective, if not more so, than saving extra for retirement.

The U.S. Census Bureau has released a new report on millennials. Even though people claim to marry for love, research shows that financial security is a big factor when choosing a spouse. The two biggest finds in the study - millennials are older than previous generations when getting married and the financial status of both parties are equally important.

States depend on revenue from their residents and logically, do not want to lose revenue from high income residents. Many of these residents have threatened to move due to the changes in tax law.